Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Tres Hombres - ZZ Top

Many many moons ago, Rolling Stone magazine did the top 500 albums of "the rock era." I always liked the list, and it is now my ambitious project to do a little homage to all 500. One a day, for the next 500 days. It's Day 3, here we go. (If you get antsy and want to see the whole list, it's here. Tell me how you think these albums are still standing up!

#498 is one of my favorite albums- Tres Hombres by ZZ Top
Tres Hombres (Spanish for "three men") is the third album by American blues rock band ZZ Top and was released in 1973. The album marked the first of many times the band worked with engineer Terry Manning which proved a successful combination as the release was the band's first commercial breakthrough. The album hit the top ten while the single "La Grange" hit #41 on the singles chart.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 498 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

During the height of ZZ Top's success in the early 1980s a digitally remixed version of the recording was released on CD and the original 1973 mix version was discontinued. The remix version created controversy among fans because it significantly changed the sound of the instruments, especially drums. The remix version was used on all early CD copies and was the only version available for over 20 years. A remastered and expanded edition of the album was released on February 28, 2006, which contains three bonus live tracks. The 2006 edition is the first CD version to use Manning's original 1973 mix.